sahir ludhianwai Profile and Biography

Sahir Ludhianvi, whose real name is Abdul Hai, was born on 8 March 1921 in Karimpura, Ludhiana, Punjab, British India, in a landlord family, which is why he added the suffix Ludhianvi to his name. His father's name was Fazal Muhammad and his grandfather's name was Fateh Muhammad. In the year 1934, when Sahir was 13 years old, his father Fazal Muhammad remarried. This was unbearable for Sahir's mother Sardar Begum and she decided to divorce her husband. Fazal Muhammad filed a case in court to take custody of Sahir, but he lost the case. Sahir's childhood was spent in financial hardship and his mother kept him under close supervision to keep him away from his father, due to which Sahir's childhood was difficult.

Sahir studied at Khalsa High School in Ludhiana. After that, he joined Government College Ludhiana. In college, Sahir Ludhianvi was famous for his poetry, ghazals and poems and emotional speeches, but he was expelled from the college and it is said that he was sitting with a woman in the principal's lawn due to which he was expelled from the college.

In the year 1943, Sahir moved to Lahore and joined Dyal Singh College here and here in 1945 he published his first book, Talkhian. He also became the president of the All India Students Federation. Sahir edited Urdu magazines like Adab Latif, Shahkar, Prathali and Sawira and became a member of the Anjuman Tarqqi Pasand Shushain. However, when he made controversial statements promoting communism, the Pakistani government issued a warrant for his arrest. After partition in 1949, Sahir fled from Lahore to Delhi. After eight weeks, Sahir moved to Bombay and started living in Andheri, a suburb of Mumbai. There, poet Gulzar was a neighbor of Krishna Chandran.

As a poet, Sahir faced financial difficulties, but when he started working as a lyricist in the film industry, he earned a lot of money. He started his career as a lyricist in 1949 by writing four songs for the film Azadi Ki Raha Par. One of them was the song Badal Rahay Zindagi. Both the film and the songs were flops. Sahir got his first success with the film Nawaz (1951), whose music was composed by S. D. Burman. After that, he was paired with S. D. Burman. Sahir got his second big success with the film Baazi (1951), whose music was composed by Burman. Sahir was then considered part of Guru Dutt's team. Sahir's last film with Burman was Pyaasa (1957). After this film, Sahir and Burman parted ways due to differences. Sahir worked with other composers including Ravi, Roshan, Khayyam and Datta Naik. Dutta Naik, also known as N. Dutta, wrote lyrics for films such as Malap (1955), Chandrakanta (1956), Sadhana (1958), Dhaul Ka Phool (1959), Dharmaputra (1961) and Naya Rasta (1970), Ezzat (1968), Mann Ki Aankh (1970), Dastan (1972) and Daag (1973). From around 1950 until his death, Sahir worked closely with Baldev Raj Chopra, a film producer and director. Sahir's last work for Chopra was Insaf Ka Tarazo (1980). Yash Chopra, both while directing BR films, and later as an independent director and producer, continued to engage Sahir as a lyricist for his films until Sahir's death. In 1958, Sahir wrote the lyrics for Ramesh Saigal's film Phir Sabha Hogi, which was based on Fyodor Dostoevsky's novel Crime and Punishment. The lead role was played by Raj Kapoor. It was thought that Shankar-Jaikishan would be the composer but Sahir demanded a composer with a more in-depth knowledge of the novel. Khayyam composed the film's score. The song "Woh Sabha Kabhi To Aayegi" is popular for its minimal background music. Khayyam worked with Sahir in several films including Kabhi Kabhi Kabhi (1976) and Trishul (1978).

Sahir was a controversial figure in that he was artistically inclined. He insisted that the film's score should be made for his lyrics and not the other way around. He also insisted on being paid a rupee more than Lata Mangeshkar and this created a rift between them.

Sahir never married throughout his life but his relationship with Sudha Malhotra was well-known. Sahir Ludhianvi died of a heart attack in October 1980. He was buried in the Juhu cemetery, but his tomb was demolished in 2010 to make way for a new burial site.

Sahir Ludhianvi was a poet of the Nadus who wrote primarily in Urdu, in addition to Hindi. He is considered one of the greatest film lyricists and poets of 20th-century India. His work influenced Indian cinema, especially Hindi-language films. Sahir won the Filmfare Award for Best Lyricist for Taj Mahal (1963). He won a second Filmfare Award for Best Lyricist for his work in Kabhi Kabhi Kabhi (1976). He was awarded the Padma Shri in 1971.